Winds were howling in the communications towers this morning. Made it to the Peak in about an hour or so after missing the right use trail to the summit. Nice quiet day and I even found a 4 square foot patch of snow on the use trail.

My wife Penelope and I hiked to North Sandia Peak from the Towers area while scouting the route from the top of the Shield to the Crest. Nice, short hike. Wonderful views.

We soloed the Knife Edge the next day by hiking to it from Piedra Lisa TH. Wonderful scramble. From the top of the Shield, hiked to the summit of North Sandia Peak again and to the Towers. From there hiked La Luz Trail down to our car, 14 miles RT. Good Day.

Did this on Labor Day with some friends from the Crest parking lot. We found a great overlook just northwest of the summit for views to the north into Bernalillo and Placitas. This is a great hike for taking folks who are unaccustomed to mountains so they can have some great scenery.

David, Whitny, Nizhoni, and I set out to do the east saddle of the Needle. Unfortunately, the weather was not down so we went for North Sandia instead. The forecast was as follows:
Scattered snow showers before 11am, then scattered rain showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 45. Windy, with a west wind between 25 and 30 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

I first hiked this mountain with my dad when I was a little kid maybe 5yrs old. There are lots of caves, geodes, and other interesting things all the way up. My favorite mountain in the word. I may be bias from having grown up in it's shadow and having some of my oldest and fondest memories created there.

Not as much snow as the recon trip showed the week prior. David, Graeme, and I used the terrific weather to do a day-trip. We started at 8:40 am and summited around 4:30 pm (snow and inexperienced climbers are fun but time-consuming). We then hiked to Sandia Crest where we were picked up for a nice ride to our car at the Piedra Lisa Trailhead by my pops.

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"As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls."
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